The manic rise and fall in silver prices over the past few months has a lot of precious metals investors re-assessing their holdings. In the near-term, it looks like gold bugs have the upper hand. Here are three reasons why the yellow metal will likely out-perform silver in the months to come:
1) Slow and steady wins the race. The fundamental case for gold and silver hasn’t changed, but investor perception has. Whatever the cause of silver’s violent 30 percent plunge, the aftershocks of that move will likely continue for several months. Meanwhile, gold’s proven that its support won’t be knocked out so easily. Over the past month, the iShares Silver Trust ETF (NYSE:SLV) has shed nearly 18 percent of its value. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE:GLD) has actually appreciated 0.4 percent during the same time span. That shows unflappable support for the yellow metal even as panic seemed to set in for commodities across the board. When the muck truly hits the fan, there’s nowhere safer than gold.
2) A ratio gone mad. There’s been a lot of speculation about the gold:silver ratio of late. Silver bulls like Eric Sprott of Sprott Asset Management – which manages the Sprott Physical Silver Trust ETV (NYSE:PSLV) and the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (NYSE:PHYS) – have been calling for titanic shifts in the ratio. Sprott’s actually argued that the gold:silver ratio could fall as low as 10:1 (meaning gold would cost just 10 times as much as silver). If that were the case today and gold stayed at $1,491 an ounce, we’d be looking at silver prices around $150 an ounce. Perhaps such a move will be possible over the course of several years, but don’t expect it over the next few months. Since the 1980s, the gold:silver ratio’s been closer to 60:1, which means $25 silver is just as likely as $150 silver (in fact, it’s probably MORE likely). In the words of Dave Kansas at the Wall Street Journal: “It’s more likely that the ratio will revert to modern-era norms rather than race back to the Napoleonic era.”
3) Silver ETFs push down prices. One of the most powerful drivers of silver prices today comes from physical silver ETFs. These stock market vehicles use the cash they get from issuing new shares to buy physical silver. Conversely, when the price of silver falls, ETFs like the SLV must liquidate their physical silver holdings to buy back shares. When the market’s trending up, the SLV can accelerate the rise in silver prices. During extreme silver sell-offs, SLVs decline floods the silver market with excess supply.
“On May 4th as silver plunged below $40, SLV experienced such heavy differential selling pressure that it was forced to liquidate 4.8% of its holdings in a single trading day!” writes Adam Hamilton and Scott Wright of the Australian investing site, TheBull. “This was 16.8 (million) ounces of physical silver that hit the markets!” That’s an enormous amount of silver. Hamilton and Wright point out that it’s 60 percent of Silver Wheaton Corp.’s (NYSE:SLW) silver output for an entire year, and it hit the market in 6.5 hours!
Gold’s stability in the face of panic selling in the silver market is evidence that gold holders have the stronger hand. More selling in the silver space, though, could be on the slate as the gold:silver ratio moves back toward reasonable levels. The ratio hasn’t fallen as low as it did last month in 30 years, after all. Interpret that how you may, but I see it as evidence of an anomaly that’s in the process of correcting.
Related
|
THE DEATH OF THE DOLLAR
|
BLIND LEADING THE BLIND
|
|
BETTER THAN CRUDE?
|
MIRRORS + THE DESERT SUN = LOTS OF POWER
|
|
SHORT THE METALS, NOT THE MINERS
3 reasons a powerful rally in silver mining stocks is overdue |
THE CASE AGAINST SILVER
|
Tags: Eric Sprott, GLD, gold price, gold price forecast, Gold Price Target, gold-silver ratio, PHYS, PSLV, silver price, silver price forecast, Silver Price Target, SLV, Sprott Inc.
